With Ukraine’s corruption, one thing is certain: You haven’t seen the worst yet

Each new scandal around Zelensky’s circle exposes a system of theft, cover-ups and rival clans – while suggesting worse still lies beneath The politics of Vladimir Zelensky’s Ukraine remain a smelly swamp, producing a ceaseless seepage of scandals occasionally percolating to the surface in big, toxic bubbles that pop with a noxious stink. Recently, for instance, the returning ambassador to the US – no less – has become the subject of a corruption case bad enough to require bail equivalent to $130,000. The very latest Zelensky regime stink bubble to burst, however, is centered on a former double minister. Before ending up at the center of yet another big pile of dirt, compliments of Zelensky and cronies, Herman Galushchenko had served as minister of energy and then of justice. And if you know Kiev’s political culture – for want of better terms – you won’t be surprised to hear that, in the end, he ended up arrested under suspicion of very large-scale corruption. To be precise, Galushchenko is one of the main suspects in the massive scandal featuring the Energoatom , aka Mindich-Gate after Timur Mindich, an intimate friend of Zelensky who, clearly tipped off about his impending arrest, has long fled to Israel. Galushchenko, too, tried to run, but was not fast enough, or more likely, lacked the same level of premium protection, namely from the president himself, and got caught at the border. Yet if the story had ended there, this would not be Ukraine. Now we are into the sequel, and it’s at least as bad as the first part. Because in essence, Galushchenko in a cell was a thought that Zelensky and his crew could not tolerate. Surely out of sheer mafia-like camaraderie! Perish the thought – they were afraid of any deals the former minister might strike and names he might name. But getting Galushchenko out was expensive: Here as well the court had set bail, and as Mindich-Gate was a $100-million case, the bail wasn’t cheap.

Read more Zelensky chief of staff drawn into widening corruption scandal Hence, this time the scandal is not about the embezzling, extorting, or stealing of humungous amounts of money, Ukrainian-establishment style. But that’s only because the stealing had been done already and phase two had started: laundering the loot. In legalese, the official case is about an attempt to “ legalize criminally acquired property. ” In practice, this meant weaving up a web of criminal deception to pay Galushchenko’s bail, well above $3 million – we are in the big league now – with dirty money made to look clean. Central to this operation and the highest-ranking official to have lost her position at this point is Irina Mudraya , the deputy head of Zelensky’s very own office, as well as a former deputy minister of justice. But the circle of suspects is much wider, as always in Ukraine where corruption is the passionate national sport of those running and ruining the country, while its ordinary citizens are hunted by military press gangs in broad daylight. Also officially under suspicion and investigation are Maksim Mikitas , a former parliamentary deputy; Vadim Stolar , a currently serving parliamentary deputy; Viktor Dubovik, another high official from Zelensky’s presidential office; Elena Ferens, a deputy minister of justice; Nikolay Gladishchenko, Oleg Stupak, Liudmila Snygur, all three high up in the management of state-owned Sens Bank, which served as the financial vehicle for the launder-and-pay-for-Galushchenko scheme. Then we also have “businessman,” a “person linked to Mikitas,” the director of the Metrostroy company, a driver who also happens to run Montazh Servis (a construction company by the name of it – good for concrete foundations to bury the talkative), and a bodyguard who doubles as the director of a firm calling itself The